Railway gate or stock guard



.June 11, 1946. v. WARD.

RAILWAY GATE OR STOCK GUARD Filed Sept. '7, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet lWllIllfkAIiJ I NVENTOR. 1

W/ML g4 INIfENTOR.

' A rro/e/vw V. WARD 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 11, 1946.

I RAILWAY GATE OR STOCK GUARD Filed Sepi. 7, 1944 Patented June 11, 1946UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,401,804 RAILWAY GATE OR STQCK GUARDVirgenious Ward, Sikeston, M0.

Application September 7, 1944, Serial No. 553,005

4 Claims. i

This invention relates to railway gates or stock guards, and is designedparticularly for mounting across a railway, to prevent the passage ofanimals along a track, and the chief object of the invention is toprovide a gate or guard for positioning across a raiiway and so arrangedas to normally stand in upraised position for barring the passage ofanimals along the track, but subject to being depressed by the approachof an engine or train, for permitting the passage of the same over thetrack.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in a gate or guard for arailway of the kind referred to, a pit extended transversely beneath therailway, vertical supports or posts mounted in the ends of the pitoutwardly at the sides of the rails and extended upwardly above therails, the said supports being formed medially with aligned, elongatedopenings from top to bottom thereof but not opening out through the endsthereof, a gate supporting beam extended lengthwis within the pit,transversely of the railway, the ends of said beam being extended freelythrough the medial openings of the supports, suitably heavy coil springswithin the upper portions of the said openings of the supports andconnected at their upper and lower ends respectively with the upper endsof the supports and the outer ends of the gate supporting beam, fornormally maintaining said beam in horizontal and operative alignmentwith said railway, the rails of the railway being parted in transversealignment on a plane passed medially and vertically through the openingsof the supports, and also being parted longitudinally on planes cuttingthe rails medially and vertically for substantial distances along therailway at each side of the said supports, at which transversely alignedpoints the rails are also parted and pivotally connected by heavy bolts,the inner portions of the rails being thus adapted to pivotally raise orlower, and gate operating arms pivotally connected at their ends withthe adjacent ends of the parted and. pivotally movable rail sections andthe ends of the gate supporting beam, at points located inwardly of therails of the railway, there being a gate mounted at the upper side ofthe gate supporting beam, whereby an engine or cars moving over therailway and approaching the gate from either side, will through theimpingement of the car wheels upon and over the parted and pivotallymovable rail sections, depress the gate supporting beam and gatedownward into the said pit, for permitting the engine and cars to passthereover.

, A preferred embodiment of the invention and the structural featuresthereof, is shown in the accompanyin drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a plan view of a section of railway, showing my proved gateor stock guard mounted transversely thereon, the said gate being in itsnormally raised or elevated position.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the assembly as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical section, taken on the line of Figure1, showing the gate as raised.

Figure 4 is a transverse vertical section on the line :i% of Figure 3,showing the gate raised.

Figure 5 a view similar to that of Figure 2, the gate however beingshown as depressed into ti t under the railway, by the action of car wreels impinging and moving over the pivotally movable rail sections.

In practising this invention a suitable pit 5' is dug or constructedtransversely underneath the railway 5, and is suitably reinforced atsides, ends and bottom by concrete or other forms of linings 2. Posts oruprights 8 of concrete or other suitable material, ar mounted at theends of the pit 5 in transverse alignment, outwardly of the railway 6and in spaced relation thereto at each side thereof. These posts extendsubstantially above the; railway, as shown in the drawings, and areformed with medial openings 9 extending from top to bottom of the posts,and are disposed in transverse alignment as shown. A gate supporting andoperating beam i0 is disposed freely, lengthwise and horizontally withinthe pit 5, and journals II are formed on this beam at points inwardly ofthe rails of the railway. The railway 5 of course includes thecross-ties Ba laid in regular manner along the surface of the ground G,as shown. The railway extends through between the posts 8 and of courseover the pit 5. At this portion of the railway however, and to asubstantial distance at each side of the gate supporting beam H3 as maybe found suitable for the purpose of the invention, the webs of therails are thickened, as indicated at 617, upon their inner sides, andthese sides are cut away along vertical longitudinal planes andangularly at the ends thereof at transversely aligned points as.indicated clearly at 60, thus providing gate operating arms 5d which arepivoted at their outer ends to the inner sides of the uncut portions ofthe rails as indicated at 66, by means of bolts as shown. The arms 6dare so formed and cut at their inner adjacent ends of, that when theyare closed down upon the ties 6a, these ends will abut one anotherendwise and complete the rails of the rail- 3 way at each side for thepassage of cars, and so that these ends will then lie at either side ofa plane passed medially and vertically through the posts 8, transverselyof the railway. The ends 6 of the arms 6d are offset or wideneddownwardly,

as shown at Go, and the outer sides of these downset ends are cut flatlyaway to form shallow and fiat recesses 6h, adapted for smoothly receivinthe complementally dimensioned upper ends of vertically positioned gatelevers l2 which are smoothly and pivotally connected to the ends 6within the recesses 6h by means of bolts l3, the heads of which arebeveled and countersunk into the outer faces or sides of the levers, soas to offer no interference to the smooth operation and downward closingmovement of the arms 6d. The lower ends of the levers l2 are cut out ina semicircular form as shown at In and are thus adapted to seat upon thejournals H of the gate supporting beam l0. Fence pickets M are erectedin vertical alignment and transversely spaced relation along the upperside of the gate operating and supportin beam [0, and ar arranged tofallat either side of the ends 6 and levers l2, so that these elementsmay operate smoothly.

Eye bolts l5 are extended in vertical alignment medially through theupper ends of the posts 8 and through the outer ends of the beam Iii,the eyes of these bolts being turned inward as shown, and suitably heavycoil springs 16 are positioned within the openings 9 of the posts 8, andhave their ends connected as at 16a to the eye bolts I5. These springsare tensioned so as to normally pull the beam i9 and pickets l4 mountedthereon, upwardly to the level of the railway B. The 'depth of the pit 5substantially corresponds to the desired height of the gate, that is tosay to the overall height of the beam I0 and pickets l4 thereon.

In operation the beam 50 and pickets l4 there on will normally Stand intheir raised position, and thus serve as a gate or stock guard, but asthe wheels of a car (not shown), indicated at H, impinge and'pass overthe anus 6d, these arms will depress the beam l0 into the pit 5,carrying along 'of course the pickets I l, and thus clear the way forthe passage of the car or train, after which the gate will of courseautomatically rise again through the pull of the springs 16.

While I have here shown and described a preferred embodiment of theinvention, and specific structural features thereof, it is to beunderstood that the embodiment as shown may be changed and modified inrespect of the details of construction, within the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1'. In a railway stock guard of the kind described, a pit extendedtransversely beneath the railway, posts mounted in the ends of the pitoutwardly at the sides of the rails and extended upwardly, above therails, the posts being formed medially with aligned, elongated openingsfrom top to bottom thereof, a gate supporting beam extended freelylengthwise within the pit and transversely beneath the railway, the endsof the beam being extended freely through the medial openings of theposts and being formed with journals at points located inwardly of therails of the railway, a series of fence pickets erected vertically intransverse alignment along the upper side of the gate supporting beam,the same being spaced apart at the rails of th railway to clear thesame, heavy coil springs disposed within the upper portions of theopenings of the posts and connected at their upper and lower endsrespectively with the upper ends of the posts and the outer ends of thegate supporting beam, for normally maintaining the beam in horizontaland operative alignment with the railway, the rails of the railway beingparted along vertical, longitudinal planes to substantial and equallyspaced distances at each side of the said posts, the ends of the innercut away portions of the rails being parted in transverse alignment in avertical plane passed transversely and medially through the said postsand the outer ends of these cut away portions being cut and partedangularly in transverse alignment, bolts passed through the angularlyparted ends and through the outer uncut sides of the rails, thus forminggat operatin arms, and vertically disposed gate levers pivoted at theirupper ends to the inner free ends of the gate operating arms and attheir lower ends to the journaled portions of the gate supporting beam.

2. In a railway gate or stock-guard of the kind described, a pit formedtransversely beneath the railway and extended laterally at the sidesthereof, posts mounted in the ends of the pit and extended upwardlyabove the rails, a gate supporting beam extended freely lengthwise ofthe pit ad beneath the railway, fence pickets erected vertically inspaced alignment along the upper side of the said beam and so as toclear the rails of the railway, heavy springs connecting the upper endsof the posts with the ends of the gate supporting beam outwardly of therails, for normally supporting the beam in horizontal and opererativealignment with the railway, pairs of gate operating arms incorporated inthe inner sides of the rails of the railway at each side of the postsand gate supporting beam, these said arms being pivoted at their outerends in transverse alignment to the rails proper and when closed downalongside the rails proper serving to complete the same, the inner endsof the arms meeting when closed down in a vertical plane passedtransversely through the said posts, and vertically disposed leverspivotally connecting the inner ends of the gate operating arms with thegate supporting beam, whereby th wheels of railway cars passing alongthe track and approaching the gate from either side, will imping anddepress the gate operating arms and gate formed as described, for thepassage of the said cars.

3. In a railway stock guard of the kind described and wherein isembodied a pit extended transversely beneath the railway and postsmounted in the ends'of the pit outwardly of the sides of the rails andextended upwardly above the rails, said posts being formed medially withaligned elongated openings from top to bottom, and wherein is embodied agate supporting beam extended freely lengthwise within the pit andtransversely beneath the railway, the ends of the beam being extendedfreely through the medial openings of the posts at either sid and beingformed with journals at points located inwardly of the rails,'andwherein is embodied means for at the opposite sides of the gate formedby splittin the adjacent rail ends on vertical and longitudinal planesto substantial and equally spaced distances at each side of the gate,the outer ends of the split off inner portions of the rails beingpivotally connected to the main rails by means of bolts 6e, theseparated inner portions of the rails being thus adapted to pivotallyraise or lower, and relatively short gate operating arms pivotallyconnected at their ends with the adjacent ends of the parted andpivotally movable inner rail sections and the ends of the gatesupporting beam at points located inwardly of the rails of the railway,whereby an engine or cars moving over the railway and approaching thegate from either side, will through the impingement of the car wheelsupon and over the parted and pivotally movable rail sections, depressthe said gate supporting beam, for permitting the engine and cars topass thereover.

. 6 4. In an apparatus according to claim 3, a, series 01S fence picketserected vertically along the upper side of the said gate supportingbeam, said pickets being spaced apart at the inner rail ends of theparted rails so as to clear said rails as they are depressed to tracklevel.

VIRGENIOUS WARD.

